Chapter 3 Flashcards
(11 cards)
René Descartes (1596-1650)
- rationalist - human reason is the ground to knowledge
- we should use a method of doubt to obtain true knowledge (scientia): anything that can be doubted is uncertain and should for this reason not be regarded as knowledge. Only that which cannot be doubted can count as real knowledge.
-doubting as a way to gather knowledge - rejects mathematics as a source of knowledge
- in doubting everything, he knows one thing with absolute certainty, which he is doubting. ‘if you doubt you think, if you think you are’
-’Cogito ergo sum’: I think therefore I am. - Science is like a building: if it is build on shaky foundations, the whole edifice will eventually collapse
- idea of perfectness - if the idea of infinity doesn’t come from me, it comes from God (good by it’s nature) - he has to exist because to exist is more perfect than not to exist
- not only is he thinking thing ( res cogitans), he’s also a physical thing (res extensa) - they occupy space in three - dimensional world
The British Empiricists
- John Locke
- George Berkeley
- David Hume
John Locke (1632-1704)
- empiricist
- there are no innate ideas - when we’re born the mind is like a paper, void of all characters
- we obtain knowledge by experience
- our mental representations stems from sensation and reflection
- distinction between simple and complex ideas
- 4 types of simple ideas- the last one - type of simple idea that stems from both sensation and reflection
- complex ideas - e.g. idea of ‘beauty’
- three types of properties-> qualities that we attribute to objects
- snowball concept
Snowball Concept
John Locke - three qualities of an object
- primary quality - snowballs are round - this is what the object is no matter how we perceive it
- secondary qualities (such as sounds and smells) - only exist once we perceive them, vary from mind to mind -> a snowball is white
- tertiary qualities - caused by one object changing the other- sun melting hot wax( or a snowball)
Sensation - John Locke
Source of most ideas we have, depends on our senses and how we derive it through understanding.
Cold, Hot, White etc.
Reflection - John Locke
Mind reflection - its own operation with itself.
George Berkeley (1685-1753)
- Irish philosopher
- empiricism, idealism
- there is no such thing as ‘twofold existence’ of ideas and the objects they are supposed to resemble
- we cannot be sure that objects exist outside of the mind -> we’re living in the Matrix-like virtual reality of ideas
- Esse est percipi: to be is to be perceived
- claims that the only substance that exists is the mental substance, and that all physical objects are determined by that substance and not vice versa
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
- scepticism
- unreliability if both reasoning and observation
- existence of material reality must be doubted
- our senses cannot be trusted
Berkeley against Locke
that this fundamental distinction between mind-dependent and mind- independent qualities raises serious problems for Locke, because how can we be sure that shapes are objectively there if we just have to use the experiences we have of them? In other words, how do we know these ideas actually resemble real objects?
Esse est percipi
Berkeley’s view is that the existence of something consists in its being perceived by a mind called idealism. Objects only have ideal, not real or material existence. Example: You’ve got a cherry. The cherry is real but only insofar as it exists in your mind. If you remove the softness, the redness, and all other mental images; the cherry is gone. There is no material cherry; it only exists as a ‘collection of ideas.’
The problem which arises though is that only what is perceived is, and then while I’m not at home, the bed that I sleep in does not exist, because it is not perceived by anyone at that current moment. Berkeley then falls back on an eternal God, who always keeps watch and perceived objects.
David Hume
